LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24369, 3 September 1942, Page 2

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Day of Intercession

Sir, —Christian men and women in | New Zealand will join with our beloved King (himself in poignant sorrow) in; prayer to God for our nation's deliver-! ance. and the following words, remembered and believed, will help to brace; our faith and hope in this third anni-; versary of the declaration: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver vou. Seek My face continually. Ask and ye shall receive—the effectual j fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." J.J.D. j

Farmers' Clothes

Sir, —The Farmers' Union is right in advocating fewer coupons for working trousers, etc. This suggestion applies especially to farm labourers who work long hours, wet or dry, as the stock must be tended. Wear and tear on working material is devastating, and wages do not compare with those of other classes of labourers. It is not a question of insignificance as some farm workers have found work in camps where clothing, etc.. is provided. There are few enough labourers in contrast with our huge army of administrators and those who keep on the tie. Rssential workers should be encouraged. Earthworm.

The Market Gardener

Sir, —These six points will illustrate the penal discrimination exercised against market gardening, in which many of our Chinese allies are giving indispensable and efficient service:— (1) Prices are fixed for wheat, fruit, butter, cheese and honey alter consultation with the producers. Vegetable prices were limited without such consultation. (2) The Government guarantees the prices fixed for those other industries, but does not guarantee the price limits of vegetables. (3) The Government arranges the prices of the other industries usually beforehand, so that men can decide whether to produce or not. That courtesy was refused to the vegetable grower. He was "put on the spot" suddenly, with perishable crops on hand at a critical season. (4) The Government fixes minimum wages. It is unlawful to pay less. But it puts a ceiling over vegetable prices, and you charge more at your peril. (5) Vegetable growing is risky, expensive, ami in some respects disagreeable. It is brimful of disappointments, sodden clothes and mud. It seems that the lower you sink in the scale of comfort the more the Government jumps upon your back. (6) The vegetable grower is not allowed to recover from one year's losses by next year's profits. Yet the Government rectifies its own apple fosses by profiteering now at 200 per cent over cost. The trouble is not the high cost of essential vegetables, but the lack of them. Their production should be encouraged. Yet the Government has taken an effective step to bewilder the producers and increase the famine. Otahnhu. Arthur Satnsbuby.

Food and Vitamins

gj Fj —i see by an article in the ETKRAr,D that the purchase of vitamins must cease. If cod liver oil, now sold at high price, fails in supply, we must get our share of vitamin J) from the sun. Well, I am the mother of two children, and was myself a country-bred child, brought up close to a surf beach. [n summer, I went practically without clothes. I was browned to native tints, I slept out of doors, ate plain food, and no .' in my young adult life I have a deficiency of vitamin D. Therefore, I for one will never be satisfied with merely stretching my two children in the sunshine. They receive doses of halibut oil daily, and any other vitqmin preparation I think they need along with it. The Government cut my supply of oranges out when my infant son needed them most. The Government wandered off with eggs just at the time when the doctor ordered an ailing boy a raw egg in his bottle. The Government has held up supplies of baby, foods and cut out three necessary things to every unnecessary commodity. Vegetables are expensive, scarce and of times far from fresh. Fruits are exorbitantly priced and rare. The humble lemon is a cherished memory. On these lines, how can we supply vitamin diets for our children? Fish also is an uncertain luxury these days, and so until an effective substitute is found for the spinach juices—fruit juices and natural iron, and the calcium needed for teeth and bones, I will go on buying my vitamins from a bottle to supplement the tired vitamins left me, when a puzzling Government has finished playing bide and seek with them. Child ben Fibst.